EC-Germany draft joint statement clarifying investment standards in CETA

The European Commission and the German federal government put together a draft statement clarifying the content of the FET and indirect expropriation standards in CETA. The stated goal of the statement is “to ensure that the parties can regulate in the framework of climate, energy and health policies, inter alia, to achieve legitimate public objectives, while at the same time preventing the misuse of the investor to State dispute settlement mechanism by investors.”

This initiative aims to respond to the calls that the two most invoked investment protection standards unduly hamper the states´ right to regulate and may be particularly problematic in the context of climate change policies.

The two entities will now seek the support of the remaining EU member states before approaching the Canadian government such that the new definition may be adopted by the CETA Joint Committee.